This summer is whizzing by! How is it the end of July already? At the beginning of the summer I made a list of various potential things to do and I have a feeling we're not going to be able to do many of them.
Our garden has been doing mediocre this year. I think I got my peas in too late because we didn't have that many of them. The beans are now ready for picking, but the ones I've sampled have been pretty yucky- rather mealy. We got a number of zucchini (more than I can eat on my own and Chris doesn't like them) and now we have a whole bunch of cucumbers ripening. And again I'm faced with the issue of Chris not liking them. I think I'm going to try making some pickles.
But what makes me really happy are the carrots! After years and years of trying to grow carrots and having less than stellar results, I actually have some decent carrots this year. And there are more in the ground, so hopefully they'll get even bigger. I keep meaning to plant a second crop of them, so we'll see if that happens.
On Wednesday this past week was Derby Day at Bennett's school/daycare. They had a racecar theme for the week so we asked if they wanted to have a Derby. They were game, so we bought some car kits and Chris shaped them into simple wedges. Then on Monday the kids painted them and Wednesday was the race.
Here's Bennett's car on the red lane. He was one of the slower cars. We hadn't worried about weights for any of them, but Chris had to add some weight to Bennett's car just so that he would be able to cross the finish line. Oh well. All of the kids had fun, as did the various staff members who would walk by to watch, reminisce, or in the case of the maintenance team, race cars when they had a few spare moments.
Continuing the trend (since June 22nd) of weekly trips to OSV, we went on Saturday. The weather was perfect weather. We got a chance to do some things we don't normally do- went on a riverboat ride, saw a demonstration at the sawmill, and visited the printer.
Since we don't know the names of most of the employees we've made up nicknames for some of them. We do know some names if they have been featured in the member's magazine, videos online, etc. But instead they get names like "good farm woman" (Victoria), "other good farm woman" (Ryan), "good blacksmith" (Derek), "good tinsmith" (Phil), "head animal guy" (Rhys), and "thru-hiker guy".
So of course thru-hiker guy was working at the print shop when we visited. No one else was in there so we got to chatting, asking him if there's anything at Sturbridge that he doesn't do (parson), what he likes best (working on his own farm), etc. We told him he's one of our favorites and then I told him his nickname. Turns out, he lived out of a backpack for 10 years. He also is an expert on chestnuts, works in his fields barefoot, plows his fields by hand, and gets moody when it's time to kill a chicken. I kind of feel like we've been stalking him with everything we know, but it's really just that we visit a lot and hear snippets of conversations on various visits. We also wonder if they have started to recognize us, seeing how we visit so often. And how many male toddlers are there who wear a fedora and carry Curious George on their back?
I don't think this farmer has a nickname. I think his real name is Justin.
Ram (and lambs to keep him company) separated from the rest of the flock.
Playing Shuttlecock and Battledore.
Apparently we can't get away from the pump these days.
Sawmill in action. Or as Bennett says, "sawmill goes up and down".
On Sunday we went to the Boston Children's Museum for one last visit during our membership. We got there pretty early so it started off being not very crowded, but that quickly changed. And we realized it's way too chaotic for us. Too many people, and it seems to give Bennett a bit of ADD as he quickly runs off from one thing to another.
He got a little further in the climber, but still not very far.
Bubbles!
Bigger bubble!
If there's an opening for a face, we must take a picture.
The week was a little wonky with the 4th of July holiday on a Thursday. Bennett wrapped up school for the week on Wednesday. Lots of patriotic crafts were made this week! They made fireworks (painted the tips of Q-tips and glued them on black construction paper), foot/handprint flags, and colored the Statue of Liberty below and also Uncle Sam who is further down this post.
On the 4th we decided to go to Sturbridge. It was HOT, but still a good time. Visiting the cooper shop seems to be a new tradition of Bennett's and he always wants to sit down on this bench to give it a try.
While we were in the cooper shop we found out more about the "save the sawmill" fundraising campaign. We are all for saving the sawmill, but none of the information really said what exactly we were saving. (unlike last year's gristmill project which was to repair the water wheel). Turns out the roof and some of the rafters are pretty rotted and need to be replaced. With a deadline of October we keep wondering when they are going to get started on the repairs.
When we were down at the farm Bennett pet a chicken!!! This is huge for him because he normally doens't want to pet animals. He could have pet the calf but he wanted nothing to do with that. One of the women was holding the chicken though so I wonder if that had something to do with it. Maybe she was much more approachable (and cat-like) that way?
We made our way back to the center village and noticed Rhys (the employee) heading into Doc and Blue's pen. He hitched them into the yoke and then started brushing them. Once they were good and brushed he started walking them around to tire them out a bit before the procession
We decided to have a picnic lunch out on the common. As we were eating Bennett kept asking where Doc and Blue were. Luckily they were usually somewhere in eyesight.
We also got to meet Lance and Henry. Ever wonder which is which when you hear the names of a pair of animals? Well, when they are hitched up, the first name always refers to the one on the right (when you look at them in this direction.) We also were wondering how we would be able to tell them apart when they weren't hitched up and we discovered that Henry has the horns that stick out like a Longhorn. (With Doc and Blue, Doc's horns point down.)
Sturbridge is a fun place to visit on the 4th because the families of the employees are welcome to come and be costumed. This is a great way to get some extra kids in costume. A small group of kids went to the school, and this group became a mini-militia who got a crash course in musket handling.
Finally it was time for the procession!
Please excuse the jitteriness of the video, especially at the beginning. Lots of waiting around for a procession that took less than two minutes!
And then afterwards Bennett kept talking about Doc and Blue in the parade.
When the procession had made its way back to the common it was time for a Naturalization Ceremony. How neat! (There had been increased security and bag checks to get into the village because of this.) Unfortunately it was about nap time and Bennett didn't want to stay still and be quiet so we missed most of the ceremony. But imagine our surprise when we ran into Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry while on the way to the bathroom! We chatted for a bit and then headed out.
We made a quick stop in the playground area because they have more cut-outs.
Back at home it was a continuation of a car nap and then when he woke up we went outside to cool down. Befitting the holiday, Bennett had a patriotic swimsuit in his pile of hand-me-downs. We went outside and played in the pool. I'd given him some balls made of cut up sponges as well as some shower poofs and he had lots of fun playing with those. (The next day he learned he could thrown them at Mummy and Daddy to get them wet.)
There's a saying that when growing corn on the cob it should be "knee high by the 4th of July" so I had to climb onto my garden bed to test this out. Perhaps for the 1st time in the 4 or so years I've tried growing corn, it's actually higher than my knees!
And to wrap yo the holiday, here's a blurry Uncle Sam costume from school.
This summer Bennett will be spending some extra time with Daddy. This gives them some extra bonding time but also helps our budget out a bit. So on Friday Bennett stayed home with Daddy and played. (This is his Duplo "house".)
And here's Bennett reading a circular and telling Daddy about all the tools that he should buy.
On Saturday we decided to go to the Children's Museum. Our membership expires at the end of the month and we haven't used it nearly as much as we should.
Once of the features of the museum is a 3-storey climber. We thought Bennett would love it. We were wrong. The first time he tried it there were a bunch of other kids around so we thought that was the problem- he didn't want to push past them. So we tried it again later, but nope. Not sure what the problem was. Usually he's a pretty active and adventurous guy. Maybe he just didn't understand it? Still too many people? Who knows.
Instead we checked out some other areas such as creating power by riding bikes or walking around in a circle.
Then we went upstairs and he got to play in the store. Using the cash register was lots of fun.
In the construction room he got to check out the Bobcat.
Daddy got to be a construction worker.
And Bennett was a welder.
In the gift shop Bennett discovered the selection of Curious George toys. He even took one of the stuffed George's around to show him some of the other toys.
On the way back to the car we stopped at the Fire Museum. It's just a small place with a couple of engines but Bennett was allowed to climb up on this one.
And speaking of fire stations, on Sunday (which we spent at home) Bennett played with some of Daddy's Legos. This was a set that Bennett had gotten Chris for Father's Day. Not only is it a big firestation, but it also has a couple of trucks and a helicopter. Bennett's still a little young to play with this, but he had fun.
And I'll wrap up this post with a video of Bennett directing Doc and Blue around the house. It's mostly him (at the end) saying "Doc, back". This is because while we were watching the oxen Doc kept trying to move away and Rhys had to keep telling him to back up. I guess Bennett picked up on that because all of a sudden we noticed him on Friday night with an imaginary stick (whip) saying, "Doc, back". It took us a bit to figure it out, but once we realized what he was doing we thought it was pretty cute.
As I mentioned last week, Bennett has a new friend- Curious George. One morning last week Bennett was giving George raisins and then George was sharing them with Bennett.
Bennett also helped with the laundry. I probably won't encourage too much of this particular behaviour or I might need to replace the dryer door, but it was cute.
There's also a video of this.
And here's a conversation we had in the car on the way home from school one day. Not really all that intersting, but I tried to get him to say of of the words that we think are fun.
Then Mummy and Daddy went away for the weekend (celebrating our 10th anniversary!) and Bennett stayed with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry. Gentry works from home on Saturdays, so Andrew took Bennett to the Children's Museum to get him out of her hair. While there they visited the "barber" and Andrew sent me this picture claiming that he had taken Bennett for his first hair cut.
Right next to the Children's Museum is the Boston Fire Museum. How excited Bennett looks!
On Sunday they went to Sturbridge for Wool Days. Bennett got to see a sheep be shorn, and Andrew and Gentry learned that with a small child in tow, it's really hard to spend time in the exhibits! Then on Monday morning they went to a sheep farm. As much as Bennett loves looking at animals, he wanted nothing to do with petting them!
Meanwhile on Martha's Vineyard, the weather was cold and rainy. Saturday had the worst weather, but we still had a nice time walking around the various towns on the island and checking out the shops. Sunday we went to one of the lighthouses where it was extremely windy.
We also checked out the Tabernacle and the cottages in Oak Bluffs. We stopped at the Cottage Museum and enjoyed talking with the guides there. Unfortunately it was right before closing, so we weren't able to talk for very long.
Of course Monday had the best weather but we didn't stick around for very long as we wanted to try to beat some of the traffic on the way back. And we did luck out! Overall, it was a nice getaway, but probably a bit more low-key than we typically like. Other than poking around shops there isn't much to do. Maybe in nicer weather it would have been different because then we would have brought out bikes.
When we got home Bennett was a little more clingy than normal, but that was to be expected. We gave him his souvenier- a Martha's Vineyard potholder- and he immediately brought us some "cookies" fresh out of the oven in his play kitchen. We did some gardening and lawn mowing, and then we took a belated monthly photo. (It might be just about time for a real hair cut!)
I've noticed that Chris and I refer to both a hospital and a museum as "Children's". Hmm, this could become confusing for Bennett at some point. (Example: "We need to take Bennett to Children's for an appointment." versus "What should we do today? How about a trip to Children's?")
But on Sunday we decided to take advantage of our membership to the Children's Museum (only one more visit and it will have paid for itself). Like pretty much every other time we've gone there, it was a mad house! They have a large 3-story climbing structure that we debated allowing him to go on. Once we saw how crazy it was there we knew we wouldn't let him. He has severe selective listening, so I think it would be quite difficult to get him out of there when it was time to move on to something else.
What was fun though is that we explored a number of areas that we haven't seen on previous visits. Such as:
Shooting baskets with Daddy
Playing in the grocery store (surprisingly not as interested in this as we thought he would be)
And going to a (free) performance of the Three Little Pigs. It had audience participation, and days later he is putting a finger on his chin and saying "chin, chin chin" (not by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin).
Other moments this week....
One night Bennett started telling us a story about getting money from Uncle Andrew. He must be thinking about this a lot, because he kept on talking about it that night, and he still keeps bringing it up.
Here he is microwaving an egg. Playing with that is an almost daily favorite!
When we picked him up from school one day we saw him sitting in the pre-k room reading. Apparently he sat himself in the chair, covered himself with a blanket, and then pulled the other chair over so that he could rest his book on it.
We got some snow this week so after school Daddy and Bennett finished shoveling the driveway, getting the bits that the plow had missed. The next day he was upset that he couldn't go out and shovel again.
I've always been pro play-dough. We've given it as gifts before to our nieces and nephew and their parents have complained that it's a horrible gift because it gets ground into the carpet. We've always thought this was an odd excuse- just don't allow the kid to play with it in a room that has carpet. However, for us this means it can only be used in the kitchen. And since we lack a kitchen table, it seldom gets played with (much to Bennett's dismay). Last week I pulled Bennett's learning tower over to the counter and let him go to town. He had a blast. Note to self: keep counter clean so that Bennett can play more often.
And then these next pictures are an example of what happens when Mum and Dad want to try to sleep a little longer. Even though Bennett *can* get out of bed on his own, he doesn't. So Sunday I got him up and we told him to play. Occasionally he would bring something over to one of us, but he mostly played on his own.
Books being strewn on the floor.
The sound of these being pulled off the shelf is what finally got me out of bed.
Clothes that used to be neatly folded in the basket and on top of those bins.
Play food, brought up from downstairs.
There actually is a lot more that you can't see.
